


The Beginning of the End

by KasmiAnn



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Ambiguous/Open Ending, F/M, Loneliness, Resentment, Swearing, argument, subtle, un-happily ever after
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-03
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:34:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24517762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KasmiAnn/pseuds/KasmiAnn
Summary: Nothing is quite as it seems when you are looking from outside. Hermione is struggling and Ron doesn't understand.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley
Comments: 9
Kudos: 12
Collections: Talk Isn't Cheap Fest





	The Beginning of the End

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [Talk_Isnt_Cheap](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/Talk_Isnt_Cheap) collection. 



> I chose the dialogue prompt below for DarkAngel's Flash Fest - Talk Isn't Cheap
> 
> **Prompt:**
> 
> Character A: “I wasn’t done talking to you.”
> 
> Character B: "Can we argue in the morning? I've had a long day, and I'm tired."
> 
> Character A: “No. No we cannot.”

Hermione wasn’t sure how things had escalated _this_ bad. What had started as a small argument turned into a full-blown yelling match with Ron apparating away with an angry crack. 

__

_“Hey love,” Ron said wearily as he stepped from the floo. “The kids in bed already?”_

_Hermione sat quietly on the sofa folding a pair of Hugo’s trousers, adding them to the growing pile in front of her, purposely not answering her husband._

_“‘Mione?”_

_She reached into the basket and grabbed one of Rose’s jumpers. “You missed dinner.”_

_Ron sighed. “Sorry. The trainees wanted to grab a pint and I couldn’t say no.”_

_Hermione paused and glared up at him. “You could have sent an owl.”_

_Ron ran his hand over his face as he kicked off his shoes. “Sorry.”_

_Hermione clenched her jaw. “Sorry? Do you have any idea what I go through during the day with the kids? Spending all day with no adult conversation, cooking, and cleaning up after them? Maybe I’d like to go out for a pint.”_

_“What?" Ron looked at her, confused. "Hermione, you lost me.”_

_Hermione snapped her mouth shut as she felt tears stinging the backs of her eyes. She knew she was spiraling, she could feel the emotions that she pushed down day in and day out coming to the surface, ready to boil over._

_Ron shook his head and turned towards the bedroom._

_Hermione dropped the laundry from her hands and stood up quickly spilling mismatched socks all over the floor._

_“I wasn’t done talking to you.” She bit out, following him down the hallway._

_“Can we argue in the morning? I’ve had a long day, and I’m tired.”_

_“No. No we cannot!_

_Ron turned around to face her and sat on their bed. “What Hermione? What do you want from me?”_

_“I don’t know!” Hermione yelled back at him. “I don’t know what I want from you but I feel like I’m drowning Ronald and you don’t even see it!” Tears had started falling down her cheeks as she paced in front of him._

_Ron sat quietly watching her._

_“I’ve had a long day and I’m tired too Ronald.” Hermione sniffled before continuing. “Rose and Hugo are so busy and I spend all day chasing them around the house and I try so hard to enjoy it but I’ve lost myself.” She was full-on hysterical now._

_“What does this have to do with me having a pint with the guys?”_

_“It just,”-- she stopped to try and gather her thoughts so she could make him understand -- “You leave early, you come home late, you don’t check in during the day - did you know Harry sends Ginny owls throughout the day just to see how she and the kids are?” Hermione could sense her husband’s confusion; she was confusing herself. She stopped directly in front of him._

_“Let me start over. I love our children with everything I have in me, but I did not know how hard this would be. I had a career, I had goals and dreams that didn’t revolve around the housework I could get done during nap time. I had friends and adult conversations and I didn’t look like this.” She gestured to her unruly curls pulled back and the oversized jumper and joggers stained with Merlin knew what. “I miss the old me, Ron, and I need your help to find her again. I need your help around here with the tidying up, the cooking, the general raising of the kids.”_

_“ My mum raised 7 of us, Hermione, while my dad worked; she didn’t need his help around the house.”_

_Hermione felt as if she’d been slapped and she stepped back quickly, wounded._

_“I’m not your fucking mum Ronald!”_

_“Clearly,” he muttered under his breath._

_Hermione couldn’t believe her ears. She was pouring her heart out to him; admitting her failures and begging for his help and that was his response? She felt her blood boiling._

_“Fuck you, Ron. Fuck you!” She yelled._

_“Calm down Hermione!” He yelled back, his face turning red with anger._

_“Calm down!? I am standing here asking for your help and you’re just going to compare me to your mum? I’m sorry I’m not her but don’t tell me to calm down!”_

_“I hear you but I have an actual job, Hermione. What would you have me do? Quit? Take time off so you can, what? Find yourself as you said? You’ll have time for that when the kids go off to Hogwarts.”_

_Tears streamed down her face as she stared at him. “Get out.”_

_“WHAT!?” he shouted at her._

_“I said, get out. Go. I can’t even look at you right now! You just don’t get it; you don’t understand what I’m going through and you aren’t even trying to! I AM DROWNING! And instead of giving me a helping hand, you just point out that your mum didn’t need help!”_

_Ron huffed out a breath and made to walk towards her. “‘Mione, I didn’t--”_

_“Just GO!” She screamed, her hands coming up to cover her face._

_“FINE!” He roared. *CRACK*_

_She looked with blurry eyes at where he had stood before she collapsed onto their bed, sobs taking over her body._

Once the tears had subsided, she cleaned herself up, checked on Rose and Hugo, and finished folding the laundry. Hours passed and when Ron didn’t return, she curled up on her side of the bed and placed her hand where his chest would have been on his side, had he been there. Instead of warm like nights before, she felt cold. She was alone.


End file.
